Bargain hunters hit the high streets

Published on Saturday 26 December 2009 19:27

SHOPPERS yesterday besieged high streets to spend millions of pounds in the sales.

• Princes Street in Edinburgh was busy with shoppers. Picture: Esme Allen

Customers queued from as early as 5am, and retailers reported the best Boxing Day sales ever, even though there had been concerns that people would stay at home and shop online.

Analysts said the upcoming return of VAT to 17.5 per cent – coming into force on Friday – was another stimulus to frantic activity in shopping areas throughout Britain.

Richard Dodd, spokesman for the Scottish Retail Consortium, said: "Yesterday was the biggest retail Boxing Day we have ever seen.

"Retailers want to get people out spending so they are discounting heavily.

"Boxing Day has also fallen on a Saturday, so most people are just taking it as a normal shopping Saturday. More retailers are starting their sales early, so the range of goods available is also much wider then ever before. That means more is likely to be sold than on any other previous Boxing Day."

Dodd added that though online sales were growing rapidly, they accounted for only 4 per cent of total sales. He said: "It's quite clear that people see shopping as a leisure and social activity and they still want to go out of their homes and enjoy the experience."

Jonathan de Mello of analysts Experian said: "It is conceivable that Boxing Day 2009 could be 'Super Saturday' – the biggest shopping day of the year so far – rivalling even 23 and 24 December."

Leading stores such as Ikea, Matalan, Dorothy Perkins and River Island offered discounts of up to 50 per cent, as did Next and Debenhams, which both opened at 7am.

Kylie Wilson, marketing manager of the Overgate centre in Dundee, said: "We were expecting a very busy day on Boxing Day and the big sales at Next and Debenhams proved particularly popular. Many people queued from 5am to snap up bargains."

Peter Beagley, general manager at Braehead in Renfrewshire, said customers filled the centre's car parks from before 6am: "Shoppers were taking advantage of the fantastic bargains in the sales and it's fair to say that after taking a breather on Christmas Day, it was back to shop till you drop.

"Footfall is up on last year and we're expecting the effects of the post-Christmas rush to carry on for quite some time."

In Aberdeen, the Bon Accord centre opened its doors at 6:30am and operations manager Alison Light said its car park had been filled by mid-morning as north-east shoppers hit the bargain trail.

Little added: "It's been really positive and store managers have been reporting a lot of retail activity."

The Gyle centre in Edinburgh also had bargain-hunters queueing from 7am for the sales at Next and New Look.

Duty manager Lorraine McFadden said: "Next looks very busy. I went in myself to have a look, but it was so busy I just gave up."

The pattern was repeated across the UK. Elsewhere, the Metrocentre in Gateshead said it had seen an excellent start to the sales.

CSC commercial director Trevor Pereira said laptops, TVs, mobile phones and home-wares had been in high demand, along with winter clothes and cocktail dresses.

"Shoppers have been planning their sale purchases before the VAT hike comes into effect, and as a consequence we are extremely busy," he said.

The government cut the rate of VAT to 15 per cent in December last year in a bid to boost the struggling UK economy. It will rise back to 17.5 per cent on 1 January.

Research by American Express suggests that more than 3 billion will be spent in the sales; more than a third of shoppers questioned said they were more likely to spend because of the impending VAT increase.

At Selfridges in Manchester, four shoppers were hurt when a panel from a plastic ceiling light fell onto them.

It happened in the ground floor accessories area just after the store opened at 8am. Four people suffered cuts to their heads and bruising.

Witness Adam Caulfield, from Oldham, said: "It was bedlam. Two or three girls had loads of blood gushing from their heads. There were at least 400 or 500 people just in that section."

In a statement, the store said it had immediately cordoned off the area and that paramedics had arrived within five minutes.

"Selfridges is assessing the cause of the incident," it added.